Senior Quantity Surveyors in Dublin are not short of options at the moment. The question is less whether there is a role and more which kind of role suits the next stage of a career. Three routes come up again and again in our conversations: the main contractor, the private developer, and long term work on a live operational site such as an airport.

They share a title, but the day to day work, the pressure points and what each one builds in you are quite different.

The main contractor route

On the contractor side, the Senior QS sits at the centre of the commercial position on a project. The work covers subcontract procurement, valuations, change control, cost reporting and, eventually, the final account. In Dublin at present that means a lot of high rise and mixed use residential, alongside sports, education and commercial buildings.

It is the route that builds commercial instinct fastest. Every week brings a decision about entitlement, value or risk, and the results show up in the project's margin. For someone aiming at Commercial Manager, it remains the most direct path.

The private developer route

On the developer side, the Senior QS is protecting the client's money rather than the contractor's margin. The work moves earlier in the life of a scheme: appraisals, cost plans, tender analysis and then holding the contractor to what was agreed. Developers building new residential sites across Dublin often want one person who can follow a site from land appraisal to the last house.

The pace is different. There are fewer valuations to chase and more decisions about whether a scheme stacks up at all. People who move this way often value the wider view of the business and the closer contact with the people making the investment decisions.

The airport route

Long term work on a live operational site sits somewhere between the two. On an airport campus, a Senior QS can be site based for years, working on commercial buildings, fit out and infrastructure while the site stays open around them. Security, phasing and access rules shape everything, and the commercial work has to reflect the cost of working around a live operation.

For many, the attraction is stability: one site, a long pipeline of work and a client that will still be building in ten years' time.

What all three have in common

In every case, the Senior QS is expected to run the commercial side with little supervision, to report clearly upwards and to manage junior members of the team. Hybrid working is now common at this level, typically one or two days a week from home depending on whether the role is site or office based.

What each route builds in you

Five years on the contractor side usually produces someone who can defend a final account, read a subcontract for risk and run a commercial team. Five years on the developer side produces someone who understands appraisals, funding and how a scheme is judged before a spade goes in the ground. Five years on a long term client site produces deep knowledge of one estate and the relationships that come with it. All three are valuable; they are simply valuable to different employers.

That matters when you think about the move after next. Commercial Manager and Commercial Director roles at main contractors tend to favour contractor side experience, while senior cost management and development roles look for client side exposure. Moving between the two is common, and the earlier it happens, the easier it usually is.

How to choose

A few questions usually settle it. Where do you want to be in five years: closer to the margin, closer to the investment decision, or on one long programme? Do you want variety across projects, or depth on one site? Who would you report to, and how much of the commercial strategy would be yours? And what is the pipeline behind the role, rather than just the project in front of it?

Some people also weigh roles further afield. Senior QS opportunities on European data centre programmes are drawing interest from Dublin based surveyors, and we cover that route in a separate article.

Necto Selection works with Quantity Surveyors across main contractors, private developers and long term client sites in Dublin and across Ireland. If you would like a confidential conversation about which route suits your next move, reach out to us.